Toronto garbage strike at centre of Broken Social Scene movie

Kevin Drew playing Kevin Drew (Image: Esparta Palma)

In a thrilling bit of method acting, Broken Social Scene stars as Broken Social Scene in Bruce McDonald’s latest flick. This Movie Is Broken, which premieres this week at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, blurs the border between fiction and reality, mixing a love story with a typical concert movie, as viewers follow two characters to a real Broken Social Scene show.

“Part of the fun was that it all had to be filmed that day,” said Don McKellar, who helped write the script and shouldered some directing duties with McDonald. “The intersection of drama and a real concert was the chief selling point, but of course on the practical side it presented a huge logistical challenge.” According to McKellar, directing the actors while simultaneously capturing live concert footage made for a lot of yelling, running through crowds and getting people to save spots, though we suppose that’s typical behaviour at a concert.

Filmed last summer, the movie is set during the garbage strike. “The strike worked like [Toronto’s 2003 citywide] blackout in that it galvanized the city, so when we were shooting during the day, there was a nice community feel in the parks and on the streets,” said McKellar. We’re not sure that Tourism Toronto would agree.